Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

Jack's adolescence is a blank page...

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serious crayons:

--- Quote from: moremojo on September 12, 2006, 03:21:58 pm ---My mother chose to have the procedure done on me precisely to avoid any discrepancy between father and son,
--- End quote ---

That's a pretty common rationale. Maybe Annie Proulx thought of that, and realized it would be a good way of introducing a distinction between father and son. (Where she got the abusive peeing from, though, I can't imagine.)

moremojo:

--- Quote from: latjoreme on September 12, 2006, 04:00:21 pm ---That's a pretty common rationale.
--- End quote ---
And a rather silly one, to my mind (sorry, Mom).
--- Quote from: latjoreme on September 12, 2006, 04:00:21 pm ---(Where she got the abusive peeing from, though, I can't imagine.)
--- End quote ---
This incident seems tinged, to my mind, with an element of sexual sadism. This kind of behavior goes far beyond even the kind of corporal discipline that one associates with older generations ("spare the rod and spoil the child"). It might hint at an incestuous dynamic, possibly sublimated, within the Twist household, that might raise further questions as to the formation of Jack's sexual identity, not to mention his character as a whole.

Penthesilea:
As to why Jack is circumcised, I wondered about this, too. But then shrugged this topic off with the knowledge that it is not as unsusual in the US as it is here. Here boys are only circumcised due to religious or medical reasons.


--- Quote from: moremojo on September 12, 2006, 05:04:14 pm ---This incident seems tinged, to my mind, with an element of sexual sadism. This kind of behavior goes far beyond even the kind of corporal discipline that one associates with older generations ("spare the rod and spoil the child").
--- End quote ---

I'm with you here. This goes beyond the "usual" child abuse/maltreatment (like birching, bullying, beating) and tinges to child molestation (abuse with a sexual content).


--- Quote ---It might hint at an incestuous dynamic, possibly sublimated, within the Twist household, that might raise further questions as to the formation of Jack's sexual identity, not to mention his character as a whole.

--- End quote ---
Sometimes I'm wondering where Jack got his spiritednes and his optimism from. And how he was able to conserve it through his childhood.
Maybe not despite, but  because of the situation at home? Daydreaming and always hoping for a better future as his only way of escape?

moremojo:

--- Quote from: Penthesilea on September 12, 2006, 05:33:30 pm ---
Sometimes I'm wondering where Jack got his spiritednes and his optimism from. And how he was able to conserve it through his childhood.
--- End quote ---
This has become one of life's Great Questions for me, especially in regard to Movie Jack. Where did that bright, sensitive, and loving person come from? These kinds of beautiful exemplars of humanity are relatively rare even in more accommodating environments, but seem especially extraordinary given the harsh world delineated by this story and film.
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on September 12, 2006, 05:33:30 pm ---Maybe not despite, but  because of the situation at home? Daydreaming and always hoping for a better future as his only way of escape?
--- End quote ---
Insofar as the film goes, I felt that Ma Twist probably had a lot to do with shaping her son's character. In the story, where Mrs. Twist remains an even more shadowy character than her husband, this is not so readily apparent.

But I think you raise an interesting point that Jack's loving nature could have been the product of an environment in which love was absent. He had a dream of what love was, or might be, and cultivated that within himself and his relations with others, even if he didn't have such modeled for him. It's an intriguing line of speculation. Moreover, it's illuminating to remember that Ennis and Jack came from very similar backgrounds (this is emphasized in the story), and Ennis became the pragmatic "stander", while Jack metamorphosed into the optimistic, dreamy "fixer". Two men of very different temperaments that complemented one another.

Daniel:
Ya know, playin' Jack on the Performance Thread ( I know its not the same as the book Jack or the movie Jack, but its as close as I can make it), I kind of have a little insight into his adolescence, not much, but the main point is like Scott said. He is bright, sensitive, and loving; he's also witty and has an upbeat view on life, for the most part. I would also have to say he has an innocent heart, and I'm not certain if you will know what I mean by that. He was more worldly than Ennis but somehow Ennis lived his life as though he could never have anything he wanted, and that was something that Jack could never do. He continued to live with hope and optimism except for those few moments when Ennis stripped it away from him, driving him slowly insane.

Jack tried to offer what he could to Ennis. He gave of himself fully and completely and had practically from the beginning. Ennis seemed to be just the opposite, and the few times when Ennis brings himself to give back as fully as Jack are those moments in the film which we audience members continually fall in love with: those few moments of perfect happiness and bliss in a world which says that we're wrong, as the song goes.

In one way, that is why I find it so sad to leave the Performance Thread as Jack. Jack still has so much to give and offer of himself in the course of events yet to follow, and a few perfect moments yet to live, when the drive toward them cannot be stopped by any pain or death.  It is easy to fall in love with Jack, while channeling him, I will say that much, and I would not be surprised if there was some aspect of this falling in love in the writing of fan-fictions regarding him.

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